Manchester Airport Transformation Programme

[Scottie Dog]

Thanks for posting that. I'm trying to understand whether the white structure in the mid-distance is part of the main Pier structure?

 

[User001]

It is part of the pier. Some sections seem to be white, others dark grey. Not sure what the reasoning is behind it, though.

 

[1-11days]

Good picture user, shows the scale of the build. Is the current T2 behind the darker grey structure then?

 

[User001]

T2 is out of shot to the left.

 

[1-11days]

Ah now I see, so the darker grey structure is the pier with the picture taken towards the apron and the lighter structure being the terminal extension. Many thanks.

 

[Dobbo]

Looks much wider than I expected!

If the white bit isn't part of the pier, it won't be part of the main terminal extension because it doesn't go that far. It might be the connector to the pier.

 

[User001]

Yeah I wanted to capture the shot as I haven't seen any pictures from this angle that show the width of the pier. As said, it's wider than I expected!

The demolition of T2 was well advanced, it was now past the first 'pepper pot' gate stairwell (the grey bit connecting the gates to the terminal), was surreal seeing that stood by itself as the terminal had retreated.

The piling rigs for the new bulk of T2 were bloody huge too, must have to be going down some depth!

 

[Scottie Dog]

As has been said by others the width of the Pier is far greater than I had imagined.

When the original plans were made available a few people thought that the piers seemed to be rather cheap and nasty. Now I know that it is still early days, but what are your thoughts at this stage? Plenty of room for holding lounges? Room for travelators?

To me it is good to now see planning that allows separation of inbound and outbound flows - something that was not really possible in the old piers of T1 due to the changes caused to security by political intervention.

 

[Dobbo]

I don't think travellators are planned in the pier, and the link to them (where travellators are planned) is much narrower.

If they are glass walled (roofed?) and light and airy they'll do me. I expect Pier 1 to be a smaller one than the others.

 

[User001]

I think the piers will have travelators, I'll have to go back to the docs and check.

I know the new western link and along the current facade of T2 will have them, as the new build is supposed to be all about 'making it easier'. We will soon see what the plans are.

As for the 'cheapness' comments, from my perspective it was never about the width of the pier, but instead the aesthetics of the finish, such as how it integrates from the old T2 into the new, and the fact the actual finish and clad on the renders looked cheap.

 

[Dobbo]

@User001 I don't know if you've seen something I haven't, but the latest fly through indicates the pier won't have a travellator (at least on the departures level - I don't know if that is different on arrivals where it might make more sense).

View attachment 6298

Contrast with the render of the western link, where they are shown.

View attachment 6299

The link looks quite enclosed, but hopefully more of a glass facade can be incorporated into the final design.

As for cladding, I'm not overly bothered provided it is functional and doesn't weather badly. I'd certainly like to see glass where possible, and the news about the jetbridges a few days ago is very encouraging.

My biggest concern remains what appears to be the enclosed nature of much of the new terminal. Despite its obvious size, and it is huge, I wonder whether they've missed a trick in not having even more space, which might be particularly useful if they genuinely plan to spend money on renovating the old part of the building to bring it up to the new, higher, common standard.

 

[EGCC_MAN]

My biggest concern remains what appears to be the enclosed nature of much of the new terminal.

My impression is that the dwell-spaces will not appear enclosed. The corridor space shown is a transit area where passengers will be encouraged to keep moving. They won't want people hanging around in corridors like this. I hope that UK Border isn't just round the corner from the section shown though! ;-)

 

[Coathanger16]

The corridor space shown is a transit area where passengers will be encouraged to keep moving. They won't want people hanging around in corridors like this.

I would like to think a well designed terminal wouldn't have any corridors and should be kept as open as possible. Whenever I've traveled through LHR T5 the only 'corridor' has been the jet bridge onto the aircraft...

 

[EGCC_MAN]

I would like to think a well designed terminal wouldn't have any corridors

Well, clearly there are corridors in post-TP T2. However, your assertion that inclusion of corridors is symptomatic of poor design is bemusing. They have a valid role to play in guiding passenger flows and if they do that well they don't represent poor design in any way.

 

[Coathanger16]

Well, clearly there are corridors in post-TP T2. However, your assertion that inclusion of corridors is symptomatic of poor design is bemusing. They have a valid role to play in guiding passenger flows and if they do that well they don't represent poor design in any way.

You've just summed up the issue I was trying to highlight - using a corridor isn't the only way to guide passengers, and a lack of corridors won't prevent a flow of passengers.

Having looked back through the previous posts I believe we may have been talking about different points. My point about corridors/enclosed spaces was more aimed at within the main terminal building where the current design appears enclosed, albeit with shops on either side of walkways/corridors. Other terminals around the world have a more open design whilst still allowing a decent footfall of passengers passed/through shops. There seem to be two style of terminals: an older style whereby the shops are located around the perimeter of the departure lounge with seating in the middle, and a new style where shops tend to be located along the land-side "wall" of the departure lounge with seating along windows looking out onto the apron. The original concept images for the TP suggested the latter, though these latest designs suggest more the former. This isn't a criticism of MAN specifically - most airport terminals still have the "older" style whilst only new terminals have adopted the more "open" design.

As for functional corridors to connect terminals to piers for example, yes they aid with traffic flows but the design that MAG have chosen for the link is rather enclosed, something I hope will be improved upon.

 

[Dobbo]

I suppose the comparison to LHR would be the underground walkways to the satellite piers - as they are underground they obviously cannot be light or airy. It would be a shame if MAN were dark and space constrained, but if they don't want people to loiter it's a reasonable design compromise.

 

[User001]

I do believe there are air bridge supports similar to the current 'pepper pots' on T2.

 

[Scottie Dog]

Looking at an apron plan for the TP it seems that Pier 1 is slightly shorter than any of the others. I appreciate that plans are subject to change and therefore this may be no longer the case.

Anyway, the plan appears to show a number of remote stands extending beyond the end of the Pier and I wonder if we are going to have a couple of very long bridges to reach at least a couple of these stands?

 

[Scottie Dog]

Once again I'm on walk-about and so can't cut and paste, but I've just seen OAN-75-2017.

Effective 29th October work starts to build new aprons and taxi-lanes and to reconfigurate existing Airside areas to form the new Terminal 2 Pier 1 and remote aprons. Work is scheduled to continue through until 22nd December.

Stands 85, 86 and 245 will be closed and night closure of taxiway NA and stub taxiways D & N.

I'll try to update the NOTAMS & OAN thread next week with full details.

 

[User001]

Interesting OAN there, be interesting to see what works that entails exactly.